The socio-economic conditions of Afrika and the Black World constitute a crisis which has now reached catastrophic proportions, and the fact that this is not a new phenomenon must be highlighted. The crisis started in a big way with the advent of monstrous practices like large-scale commercial slavery, anti-black and barbaric racism and  colonialism which were all caused and sustained by the system of capitalism and imperialism for reasons of maximizing the private profits for the racist Euro-American ruling classes.

The long-term objectives of full and true socio-economic liberation of any oppressed and exploited race or class or sex cannot be fully achieved in any country where capitalism remains as the system of socio-economic governance and as long as such a system also continues to be dominant at the international level. Capitalism is a global socio-economic system which has intrinsic features, objectives, principles and instruments which are inhuman, iniquitous, wicked and ruinous to human society and its environment. The intrinsic nature of capitalism is such that it cannot allow full and true liberation to take place as long as it remains the ruling ideology in that country and internationally. Full and true liberation can only be achieved after destroying capitalism itself first and during the course of building ecosocialism.

The end of capitalism is inevitable. Its fate is similar to that of feudalism which was replaced by capitalism. The revolutionary forces of Afrika and the Black World must make a formidable and heroic contribution to the demise of world capitalism. This contribution should be made through the revival and continuation of the international black liberation struggle which must be developed and transformed into the Second Liberation Struggle of Afrika and the Black World.

The continued practice of the system of capitalism, imperialism and neo-colonialism which includes the capitalistic black ruling elites as an essential instrument, is the reason why centuries after the abolition of large-scale slavery and decades after the end of direct colonialism the overwhelming majority of black people all over the world are still relatively more oppressed, exploited and racially discriminated against than any other people on earth.

The end of large-scale and commercial slavery, and the victories of the civil rights struggles did not mean that the overwhelming majority of the black people in the Diaspora were, as they had expected, now free from subtle racism, oppression and exploitation by the capitalist system. In most of the former colonies, the end of direct colonialism did not also mean the overwhelming majority of the people were, as they had expected, now free from oppression and exploitation by capitalism, imperialism and neo-colonialism. This is done through the new post-independence partnership or alliance between foreign capitalists and the local capitalistic ruling elites. These ruling elites were and are still being co-opted continuously by imperialism and neo-colonialism into world capitalism as junior partners and/or quislings.

The answer to large-scale slavery, crude racism and direct colonialism were nationalist and Pan-Africanist struggles which, for convenience purposes, may best be put together and described as the “First Liberation Struggle of Africa and the Black World”. The struggle was victorious in terms of black people gaining more civil rights and bringing about the end to direct colonialism, but this did not end capitalism and neo-colonialism. As a result, the plundering of the countries concerned and the oppression and exploitation of the overwhelming majority of their people continues. The answer to the sophisticated modern-day racist, capitalist and neo-colonialist oppression and exploitation is also what, for convenience purposes, may best be described as the “Second Liberation Struggle of Afrika and the Black World”.  This struggle is equally sophisticated and based on revolutionary Pan-Afrikanism, continuous class struggle and global revolutionary ecosocialism.

The struggle for the independence of the colonies and for civil rights in the western capitalist and racist countries was mainly based on nationalism which at the international level came to be known as Pan-Africanism. Nationalism is not only for the oppressed. The oppressors also have nationalism. The difference between the two is that the nationalism of the oppressor is always negative, reactionary and racist. It seeks to dominate and discriminate other races or foreigners. It strives to maintain the status quo. The nationalism of the oppressed is initially positive and progressive because it helps to bring about the identity, self-respect, dignity, confidence, motivation and unity which is necessary in a situation where a nation or a race is under direct foreign rule as was the case during slavery and colonialism. Nationalism can serve as a weapon for survival when a people have been brought down to their knees as a race or a nation. The nationalist and Pan-Africanist movement operated as a united front of left-wing and right-wing black forces for a minimum programme which was the achievement of independence and more civil rights. The struggle was victorious in terms of achieving this minimum programme. This was heroically achieved with great sacrices.

However, the victory of the struggle left capitalism intact and even stronger because at the end of direct colonialism, the imperialists were able to replace crude racism with subtle racism and direct colonialism with indirect colonialism which is normally known as neo-colonialism. This was the Plan B of imperialism which fitted in well with the capitalistic aspirations of the right-wing local nationalists and Pan-Africanists. The imperialists target for co-option the political, economic, social and intellectual leadership of the former colonies. These are the leaders who were or are found to be consciously or unconsciously capitalistic.

Neo-colonialism is there to create and consolidate black-on-black oppression and exploitation. It ensures the integration of the black capitalistic ruling elites into international capitalist system which is Euro-American controlled. Neo-colonialism is a form of re-colonization which is getting more and more devastating to the overwhelming majority of the people and there is no way it can be allowed to continue. The black capitalistic ruling elites now admiringly describe the imperialists as their “development partners” who guide and assist them in developing and consolidating capitalism through neo-colonialism in their countries.

In terms of the next stage of the struggle which is against capitalist oppression and exploitation, nationalism and Pan-Africanism has no lasting contribution to make because it is against class struggle and is for class collaboration. The only role left for nationalists and Pan-Africanists to play is now to promote the active participation of black people in capitalism and not to fight black-on-black  oppression and exploitation. The other role of capitalist nationalists and Pan Africanists is the promotion of Afrikan traditions, religions, music and attires . The contribution to the liberation process by nationalists and Pan-Africanists who consciously or unconsciously believe in capitalism, therefore more or less ended with the achievement of independence and some civil rights. It did not and will not go beyond that stage. After gaining independence and some civil rights, the left-wing forces wanted to continue with the struggle not only against new forms of racism and foreign domination, but also against capitalism itself, imperialism and neo-colonialism. In order to succeed, the main form of struggle which is required is class struggle. This is where and when the united front between the left-wing and the right-wing forces within the nationalist and Pan-Africanist movement ended.

In Afrika, some of the early and most outstanding theorists and practitioners of the right-wing school of thought in the nationalist movement were Leopold Senghor of Senegal (1906-2001) and Felix Houphouet-Boigny (1905-1993) of Ivory Coast. They were also very popular with the western capitalist powers because of their anti-socialism and pro-imperialism. Some of the early and most outstanding theorists and practitioners of the left-wing school of thought in Africa were Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) of Ghana and Ahmed Sekou Toure (1922-84) of Guinea-Conakry. Revolutionary Pan-Afrikanism emanates directly from this left-wing tendency within the old nationalist and Pan-Africanist movement.

In a racist and capitalist dominated world, there is need for black people to be self-reliant, to have their own revolutionary organizations, to politically re-educate themselves, to eradicate slave and colonial mentality among themselves, to develop their revolutionary class consciousness on their own, to continue with their liberation struggle against capitalism and to contribute to the world revolution. This is the reason for the existence of revolutionary Pan-Afrikanism. This is the starting point of the new stage of black liberation from capitalism. It is their entry into the world revolution. Since the system of capitalism and imperialism is a global problem, the struggle should also be global. The revolutionary black organizations concerned will naturally have alliances with other revolutionary organizations at certain levels of the struggle and on certain appropriate issues or programmes as the situation may require and as they may decide. While black revolutionary organizations need to retain their independence and identity, they also need to operate as an integral part of the world-wide movement of varied and independent revolutionary movements for the total destruction of world capitalism and its complete replacement by global revolutionary ecosocialism.

While there is a wide difference between Pan-Africanism and revolutionary Pan-Afrikanism, the fact that the latter emanated from the former must be emphasized.
Pan-Africanism and revolutionary Pan-Afrikanism should be seen as two stages or levels of the development of the same black liberation process. The first stage need to be recognized and respected as the initial and major step forward in the long march to the true and full liberation of black people world-wide. Revolutionary Pan-Afrikanism has a crucial role to play in the Second Liberation Struggle just as Pan-Africanism did play a heroic and decisive role in the First Liberation Struggle. Revolutionary Pan-Afrikanism is therefore taking over the struggle from were nationalism and Pan-Africanism left off. Both Pan-Africanism and revolutionary Pan-Afrikanism take the term Afrikan to mean all black people who live in the continent of Afrika and the Diaspora. The term Diasporan Afrikans means all Afrikan descendants, and old and new immigrants from Afrika who live either temporarily or permanently outside Afrika.

Revolutionary Pan-Afrikanists are therefore the ideological descendants of this left-wing tendency within the old Pan-Africanist movement. Revolutionary Pan-Afrikanists believe in revolution as a permanent process. They are opposed to the whole system of capitalism and are unequivocally committed to global revolutionary ecosocialism. This means they are for the total eradication of all other forms of oppression and exploitation whether by whites against blacks or by blacks against other blacks or by an alliance of blacks and whites against blacks or whites against other whites or any other people oppressing and exploiting any other people in any part of the world.

In other words, revolutionary Pan-Afrikanists are for the elimination of the oppression and exploitation of one race, one nation, one ethnic group, one class, one sex and one person by another in any part of the world. This can only be realized in a classless society through global revolutionary ecosocialism and this is also why at its advanced stage, the black liberation struggle should be based on class struggle as advocated by Nkrumah. The theories and experiences of the people in the left-wing tendency and their numerous published works, especially by Nkrumah, will remain a guide, a point of reference, and a highly powerful source of inspiration for revolutionary Pan-Afrikanists. This is why revolutionary Pan-Afrikanists all over the world are proud to call themselves: “Nkrumaists”.

Re-publishing and Feedback

In the interests of promoting world-wide debate on these issues and the swift and mass dissemination of revolutionary ideas and information, comrades and friends are hereby encouraged to freely re-print, re-distribute and re-publish this Statement but without any re-editing and with credit to www.afrikaglobalnetwork.com, and please let us know. We would also be very grateful if you could send us any feedback on this Statement at: info@afrikaglobalnetwork.com

Contact details

Afrika Global Network
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April 2, 2010

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